Butterflied Again
by saracommitted
Summary: [GSR] The first book in The Find Her Series. The first time butterflies were involved, it got personal for Grissom. This time, the butterfly girl is alive, and it’s personal for Sara. Basically a rewrite of Trust Brings Betrayal.
1. Saved Safe and Sound

Title: Butterflied Again.

Pairing: Grissom / Sara.

Rating: I'm not sure.. nothing over T.

Summary: The first time butterflies were involved, it got personal for Grissom. This time, the butterfly girl is alive, and it's personal for Sara.

Disclaimer: Put simply, I DO NOT OWN CSI.

Chapter One.

Grissom walked into the very white, and very small hospital room. He sat down in one of the wooden chairs that were at the foot of the bed beside Sara. Sara was sitting in another wooden chair, Grissom chuckled to himself as he noticed she had dozed off. He didn't blame her, it had been a very long shift, and now going on double shift.

Gil looked outside the small window that had dusty, faded-green blinds on it. People down the street from the hospital were getting in their cars and heading off to their jobs after they had had a nice, long night's sleep. While Grissom very much wanted a peaceful slumber, he was in work-mode and wouldn't fall asleep until he got home.

The case that both him and Sara had been working on had consisted of a car chase, and pulling a kidnapped little girl, who was now sleeping peacefully in front of them, out of a car that exploded right before their eyes. Luckily, no one was hurt, except the criminal who had kidnapped the girl, but he had been killed during the car chase, because a police officer had shot him.

It was an adrenaline rush, especially for Grissom. He was scared half to death, they could see the smoke coming out of the car's hood, Grissom tried to convince Sara to run the other way, but she wanted to save the girl. Sara had started running, then Grissom had no choice but to help her. They both ran to the car, and got the girl out. Sara ran, holding the girl in her arms, and Grissom ran behind them. They ducked down behind a police car just before the car blew up. As the car exploded, Grissom put his arms around Sara, and the girl she was holding.

Grissom looked over at Sara, she had small cuts on her face and hands from the debris. He looked down at his own hands, even more cuts than Sara had.

Sara's head lifted, her eyes opened, and her eyes met Grissom's. She looked around, then her expression turned apologetic. "I'm sorry, I.. I guess I'm really tired," she said. She hadn't slept at all the day before, her insomnia decided to show up at the end of shift yesterday, and so she couldn't fall asleep. Sara knew that Grissom must have been tired too, because he had also stayed awake yesterday. He wouldn't sleep until Sara had fallen asleep. No matter how much Sara tried to convince him to go to sleep, he wouldn't until she was.

"its fine," Gil said and smiled.

Sara smiled back, then looked at the little girl sleeping on the bed in front of them. Grissom followed her gaze to the girl. He thought about all of the missing person cases he had worked on, almost all of them ended in finding the dead body of the person, but this time the girl was alive.

However, Sara's mind was thinking something different, this girl was left alive, and depending on what the kidnapper had done to her, she would be left in a traumatic state. Her life would never be the same. Sara's thoughts traveled to her childhood, then she quickly pulled out of it, reminding herself of memories definitely wasn't going to help the case.

Still slightly in a daze, Sara said, "A whole week of searching her house, and we finally found her."

Grissom glanced over at Sara as she spoke.

"What do you think she'll do when we tell her that her kidnapper killed the rest of her family?" Sara asked, turning to Grissom.

Grissom sighed, and then answered, "Ask why it happened."


	2. Little Butterfly

Chapter Two.

Everyone had been put on the case, and right now they were working the evidence, while Grissom and Sara waited for the little girl, Dani Feller, to wake up. The doctor said that she would soon, but for now, she was fast asleep.

Grissom glanced at Sara, who's head was resting on his shoulder comfortably. Her eyes were open, but she was clearly tired.

"You can sleep, if you want," Gil said to her.

Sara rolled her eyes, "No, I'm fine." She would never fall asleep willingly while she was working. Plain and simple, she never would. Workaholics were like that.

Grissom didn't bother to argue that she should take a nap, he knew he'd never win.

Sara got up from the chair and walked over beside the bed and looked down at the little girl. She had a butterfly, maybe drawn in eyeliner, beside her left eye. It was small, black, and cute. Sara chuckled to herself, then noticed the resemblance between her and Dani. Sara stared down at the little girl, she had long brown hair and a butterfly necklace around her neck.

Sara sat down next to Grissom again.

"What is it?" Grissom asked quietly.

Sara looked at him. "Nothing," she said and smiled.

Grissom knew that her smile was fake, and that something was wrong. "Sara," he prompted.

Sara rested her head back on his shoulder. "Yes?"

"What's wrong?" Gil asked.

"Nothing," she answered in a slightly higher pitch. That told Grissom she was lieing.

Grissom paused for a moment and considered dropping the subject, but then changed his mind. "Don't you trust me?" He asked.

Sara smiled, "Of course." She stared up at his crystal blue eyes. They shattered every time she lied, or kept something from him. So trusting, and so deep, they pulled her towards him and she couldn't help but stare into them. The first time she looked into his eyes, everything else in the world faded, except for him and her. Sara fell for him at the moment she looked into his eyes. They trapped and embraced her, and never let go.

Grissom got up from the chair, and looked at the little girl. He looked, hoping to see the same thing Sara did. He knew that they both saw the world differently, but right then he felt he saw what she did.

"She looks like you," Gil said finally, not taking his eyes off the girl.

Sara sighed, "Yeah."

At her voice, Grissom turned to Sara. Sara got up and stood beside him. She also looked down at the girl. Then, Dani Feller woke up.

When you looked down at her, you were immediately drawn to her eyes, they were a deep green colour, she had a small nose, and a very light skin tone.

_Sara, you know she has your mother's eyes._


	3. SAE

Chapter Three.

Dani's eyes glanced at Gil, then they turned their gaze to Sara, and didn't look away. Sara was staring back, holding back the surprised look on her face.

"Dani," Grissom started, "I'm Gil Grissom and this is Sara Sidle, we're from the crime lab," he said softly.

Dani's attention was immediately drawn to Grissom as he spoke.

"You were knocked out, that's why you're here," Sara said softly.

"Crime lab?" Dani asked quietly. "Is my family... dead?"

Sara couldn't believe how Dani could say it so simply.

"Yes," Gil said. "Do you remember anything from before you were knocked out?"

"No," Dani answered quickly.

"You don't seem too upset that your family is dead." Sara pressed.

"I'm adopted, I've only lived with this family for three months," Dani explained. Sara decided to stay away from that subject.

"Is it okay if a nurse collects an SAE kit?" Sara asked.

"..Okay," Dani said.

"Don't you want to know what an SAE-" Gil started.

"I know what it is," Dani interrupted.

Sara and Grissom looked at each other, how would she know? She was only 12. Then they both turned back to Dani.

Dani shrugged, "I read."

"I'll go talk to the nurse," Sara said and left the room.

When Sara returned, Grissom was standing outside Dani's hospital room, looking through the window in the door. Sara stood beside him.

"The nurse is on her way, she just has check on another patient," Sara said. "She's also going to take x-rays and I asked for a blood sample that we could send to tox."

Grissom nodded, "Good."

"Did she tell you anything else?" Sara asked, who watched Dani through the door too.

Grissom sighed, "No, actually, she didn't say another word after you left."

Sara shook her head. That was weird.

Dani's clothes were collected after she put on a linen gown. The nurse took a blood sample, then gave it to Sara, who put it into an evidence bag. Grissom stayed in Dani's hospital room while Dani was moved to a different room so the nurse could take the sexual assault exam kit. Sara went with the nurse, so she could collect the evidence found on Dani.

The room they were in was small and purple. The shade of purple matched the mood Sara was in. It was gloomy, and fitted how a victim might feel in this room. The memories that people tried to forget in this room, all of them came to Sara, not just her own, but everyone else's. Sara had always felt that way, for every case, she felt for the victims and could never let go of that, speaking for them and giving them justice meant everything. It was one of the reasons why she loved the job so much.

Sara took pictures of Dani's bruised chest and wrists. She also used the ultraviolet light, which showed her that for the two weeks that this guy had Dani for, he abused her a lot, and Dani had gone through a lot of pain that would never leave her completely.

The nurse checked for signs of trauma, Sara held her breath... maybe he hadn't...

When the nurse looked at Sara with mournful eyes, Sara knew her hoping had done nothing. Dani was sexually assaulted. The bed Dani was laying on had green sheets, that matched the gloomy shade of purple on the walls. The nurse collected nail clippings and scrapings and gave them to Sara. Sara also photographed and swabbed a bite mark on Dani's shoulder. After the nurse collected vaginal and oral swabs, Sara left the room, carrying the evidence with her.

Sara met up with Grissom back in Dani's hospital room.

"I'm going to take the evidence to the lab, get the samples to Greg then take a look at her clothes, are you coming?" She asked.

Grissom sighed then nodded. As they were walking out of the hospital, Sara told him about the exam.

"The nurse found signs of trauma and we found bruises which suggest chronic abuse."

"Poor kid," he managed to say.

"He had her for two whole weeks," Sara said sternly.

"And she was helpless," Gil added.


	4. Grissom Saved Your Life

Chapter Four.

"Hi Mia," Sara said as she walked into the DNA lab. The DNA tech lifted her head up from a microscope.

"Hey. Is Grissom with you, Catherine was looking for him," Mia said.

"He was, he's in the layout room," Sara answered. Mia nodded. She paused, then decided to speak.

"I head you were in that car chase everyone's talking about," Mia said conversationally.

Sara squinted one eye, at first glance it would seem like a twitch, but really it was just a simple look that was questioning what Mia said. "People are talking about it?" Sara asked, with the slightest bit of excitement in her voice.

"Well yeah, I mean, Grissom saved your life," Mia said and smiled like a schoolgirl gossiping to her friend.

Sara froze, her mouth wide open.

A moment passed, then Sara finally spoke, even though it was only one word, "What?"

"Grissom. He saved you and the little girl from the burning car that exploded, right?" Mia asked, still smiling.

Sara blinked and glanced at the ground while mouthing the words as if to say 'Oh yeah'. She stared back at Mia for a brief moment before speaking again, "Yeah, I umm... guess he did," Sara said and nodded. She paused, "I... I should go." Then she was gone before Mia could say bye.

---

Minutes later, Sara walked into the layout room where Grissom was looking over every inch of Dani's clothes with a magnifying glass. Sara stood beside him, and waited for him to acknowledge her presence. He picked up a small hair from Dani's sweater with tweezers, and put it into a small paper evidence bag. He looked at Sara, and waited for her to speak.

She smiled, then pursed her lips. "People are talking about how you _saved_ me and _the little girl_," she said.

_Oh Sara, don't try to hide that you're flirting._

Grissom thought for a moment, "I suppose I did."

This made Sara smile.

"So where are we so far?" She asked, looking down at the clothes and going back into work-mode.

Gil also looked back down at the clothes. "Well, I'm just looking for any trace that might be on her clothes. Dr.Robbins called and told me the driver of the car still sad skin cells that weren't singed off in the fire, he sent it to DNA. COD was no mystery, gun-shot to the back of the head, the bullet matches a police issue, not surprising."

When he stopped talking, Sara figured that was her cue.

"So what should I do?" She asked, which was very unlike her.

Gil thought a moment, "The car is in the garage, see what you can find there."

Sara nodded, then left the room.


	5. Daydreams

Chapter Five.

A few hours later, Grissom walked into the garage, which was almost directly across from the layout room. Sara was processing the car, or at least what was left of it, most of the red Honda was wrecked from the fire, and the explosion.

Sara was wearing a blue jumpsuit that said 'forensics' on the back, with her hair tied back so it wasn't in the way. She sighed and then got out of the car.

"Anything?" Gil asked, but he knew the answer from the look on her face, so when she shook her head, it didn't surprise him.

"I wasn't expecting to find much anyway," Sara said and glanced at the car. Her mind traveled to the car chase.

_"Sara, we were told to stay back," Gil said calmly._

_"Griss, what if he gets away with that girl again!" Sara said firmly. "He's already gotten away from us once."_

_"Sara, we don't want to be in the middle of the car chase when we aren't the ones shooting, we're just here to get to the evidence as soon as possible," Grissom explained. _

_Sara crossed her arms unsatisfied. They were behind four police cars that were chasing the red Honda that held the kidnapper and the kidnapped._

When Sara snapped out of her daydream, Grissom was in front of her, holding her shoulders and looking very worried. She looked around her, seeing the remnants of the car and the tools reminded her she was in the garage. She shook her head.

"Sara?" Grissom asked, repeating himself for the fourth time now. Sara looked up into his eyes.

"Y-yeah?"

Grissom just looked back at her. He let go of her shoulders as Mia walked into the room.

"Hi... Mia," Sara said, pausing between the two words.

"Hi, Greg told me you were in here, the DNA in Dani matches the kidnapper," Mia explained.

"We know he kidnapped her?" Grissom asked.

Sara turned to him, "Yeah, Catherine checked the witness statements from when the girl disappeared and we got a hold of a tape, someone taped the explosion, and the driver on the tapes looks the same as the description we have."

"We can't rely completely on that," Grissom said to her.

"I'm working on it," Mia said, "I should have those results soon."

"Thanks," Sara said and smiled. Then the DNA tech left to go back to her work station.

Sara turned and locked his eyes in hers again.

Grissom could only look back at her, he wanted to know what went on before Mia came in, but he knew he wasn't going to find out, not then anyway.

"How did Greg know we were in here?" Sara asked, her expression didn't change. Grissom didn't answer. "He saw us," Sara said.

Grissom caught on, "What _did_ he see?"

Sara sighed, "I'll go find out."


	6. Sidle

Chapter Six.

Sara walked into the long, skinny hallway that served as a locker room. Finally, she had found Greg, who was putting his field kit into his locker and taking off his CSI vest. Sara walked up and leaned against the locker that was beside Greg's. Greg glanced at her, looked around, then looked back at her. A small smile was on her face, but he knew it was just to give him a soft landing to whatever she might say.

"Hi Greg," Sara started.

"Hi... what's up?" He asked, Sara crossed her arms and looked around at anything but Greg.

"You told Mia that I was in the garage?" Sara asked, she would gradually get to what she wanted to ask.

"Yeah, with Grissom," Greg answered simply.

Sara looked around again, "How'd you know I- we, were in there?" She asked, moving closer to her point.

Greg caught on, and closed his locker. He looked at Sara for a moment.

"I... saw you," Greg answered. Sara tilted her head, basically telling him to 'go on'.

Greg sighed then spoke, softly, as if he was trying to be quieter even though no one else was in the room. "Are you and Grissom...?"

"What, Greg?" Sara prompted.

"Together?"

This made Sara freeze.

"How do you know?" She asked.

Greg shrugged, "Just... the way you've been acting around each other..."

"Does that mean _everyone_ knows?" Sara asked.

"Let me finish, I also saw him... holding you in the garage, and I've seen you walk into his office after shift a lot," he explained. This made Sara calm down.

"Have you told anyone?" Sara asked. Greg shook his head. Sara nodded lightly, which told Greg not to tell anyone either.

Suddenly, Grissom came into the room. By the way Greg and Sara were looking at him, he knew what they were talking about. He felt the mood in the atmosphere and closed the door quietly behind him.

"I know," Greg said.

Grissom didn't look surprised. He could only nod.

"Look, Greg, I'd rather keep this between us," Gil said, he would have said more, but Greg stopped him.

"It's okay, I'm not going to tell anyone," Greg said. His tone was serious, a tone that was slightly unusual for the ex spiky-haired lab rat anywhere but a crime scene.

"Sara, I need to talk to you, case-related," Grissom said, finally breaking the glass-breaking silence. Sara smiled lightly at Greg, and then followed Grissom to his office.

Gil sat down in the chair behind his desk, and opened his laptop. "Look," he said to her.

Sara got up from the chair opposite him that she was sitting in and walked behind him, looking at the computer screen. She gently rested her chin down on his shoulder.

"This is the adoption agency that the Feller family adopted Dani from," Grissom explained, indicating the website he was on. "Her records are online."

"You have got to be joking," Sara said.

"Dani has been with four foster families," Gil paused, "Sara... look at her last name before she became a foster child."

Sara couldn't believe her eyes, "Sidle?"

Gil nodded, "And her mother's name was Laura."


	7. Digging Deeper

Chapter Seven

Sara stared at the computer screen. That couldn't be right. There could be a hundred Laura Sidle's in the world. Sara read further, Dani was born in a prison, San Francisco State Prison, to be exact. That was where Sara's Mother was, as far as she knew anyway. Her Mother was in jail for life, for the brutal death of her Father.

"Who's Dani's father?" Sara asked quickly. Grissom noted the shake in her voice, like she was trying not to shed a tear. He scrolled down and glanced through some information, until he found what he was looking for.

"Her Father was a security guard, fired on the day of Dani's birth," Grissom said. Sara had already read this information as Grissom had scrolled down to it.

"Why doesn't she have her Father's name?" Sara asked. Grissom wanted to correct her, and tell her that it was also her Mother, she needed to get used to that fact, but maybe now wasn't the best time to bring that up.

"Her Mother requested her name be 'Sidle', I guess Dani's Father was only her Father through DNA, nothing more," Grissom said and sighed.

Sara nodded, taking in the information. After a moment of silence, Sara spoke, "How can we be sure?"

"We can ask Dani about it, you have to talk to her anyway," Gil said, finally looking over at Sara, who was standing straight, with her arms crossed. She nodded, but clearly would rather not talk about it. "We can go now, or later, Sara," he added, offering comfort.

Sara fought the tears; she didn't know why she wanted to cry. Dani could be her sister, she should be happy. Maybe Grissom understood it better than Sara did, he was trying to be comforting. Sara swallowed, hopefully swallowing the tears with it. No, the tears were still there, tickling the back of her eyes, itching to reveal themselves for all to see, rather than the walls of Sara's apartment, as they usually did.

Usually, when Sara went home from work, after cheating all the overtime she could, the loneliness would remind her of all the times she would run to her room when she was younger, running away the farthest she could without being beaten. She would lock the door of her tiny, white room, while listening to her Mother scream in pain because of the beating she was being given for not making a good enough dinner, even though the dinner was perfectly fine.

Since Grissom moved in with her, she was able to hide from being reminded of her dark childhood, and hadn't cried much in a long time. She hadn't thought of it until now, when her tears that had fallen down her cheeks on a daily occurrence tickled her eyes, torturing her to stop fighting and to let them free.

'_No,' _she told herself. '_You're at work, you can't cry here.'_

"Sara?" Grissom asked, snapping Sara back to reality. This released the tears, sending them out into the open. "Sara, honey, what's wrong?" Gil asked. He wanted to hold her, calm her down, but they were at work, and they both agreed to keep professional at work.

Sara sniffled, "Nothing," she answered. She wiped the tears away, but more fell down her cheeks.

Grissom sighed. "C'mon, let's go for a drive," Gil said. Sara nodded, and wiped away the tears as best as she could. So she could leave the lab without any questions.

Grissom got up and walked in front of Sara, she followed behind him. They both walked out of the lab, catching only one person's eye.

Greg Sanders watched as Sara and Grissom left the lab, leaving him to wonder why she was crying.


	8. Pins and Needles

Chapter Eight

Sara was sitting in the passenger seat of Grissom's car. She managed to stop herself from continuing on crying now. Grissom reached his hand out and put it on her shoulder. Sara turned to him, wanting to smile at him, but her emotions weren't letting her.

"Thanks," she managed, her voice cracking in the middle of the word. Grissom smiled, then returned his hand to the steering wheel. Sara stared out the window, watching them pass by cars and people living their lives normally, as if it was any other day. Why couldn't Sara keep that feeling. Of course, normal for Sara was crying at least once a day, which probably isn't normal for most people.

_Why are you crying? What is so wrong with a sister? She's younger than you and is a girl, she's nothing like your brother._ Sara shook her head a little. _You thought you forgot him? How could you? All those years, when you thought it was normal. No. It wasn't. You let yourself believe it was normal, but you knew that it wasn't. _Sara blinked, hoping her mind wouldn't remind her of everything all over again.

_Oh please, does it just scare you to see someone else with the Sidle name? Or to you, it's the Sidle curse. You're not the only one like this, so why pity yourself. Why make Gil pity you? I'll tell you one thing, he isn't pitying you for getting a sister. No, he knows there's something greater than that worrying you, troubling you, making you cry, making you tear up inside. _

"Want some music on?" Grissom said. Sara felt like screaming thank you to him, but he didn't know the battle that was going on inside her head, and he wouldn't know what he was being thanked for. She nodded, unable to get the words out to say yes to the simple question that was asked.

_You can't get rid of me that easily._ Sara started singing the song that was playing, her words coming out easily and without shaking or dieing now. "Is it worth the pain, with no one to blame for all my insecurities, how did I ever let you go," she sang. The words made more tears prick the back of her eyes. Grissom looked at her, sadness in the depths of his eyes that saw into Sara, not through her.

"You know the song?" He asked conversationally.

"Pins and needles, by Billy Talent," she answered. It seemed that as long as Sara wasn't talking about her problems, she could speak fine. It had always been like that. _You've always had trouble telling anyone your problems. Guidance counselor, parents, foster parents, friends, teachers, even Grissom. _

Grissom nodded as they reached the hospital. They got out of the car, and the voice known as Sara's conscience went away. They walked in and told one of the people at the front desk they were there to see Dani, the kidnapped victim. Then Sara and Grissom were guided to Dani's room, the little girl was looking at a book and talking to a brown-haired boy.

Sara peered in, looking through the door. Dani looked up and saw Sara at the door. The boy noticed Dani's gaze had now focused itself on something other than the book or him, and looked at the door to see a brunette woman looking in. Sara took this as her cue to go in, Grissom followed.

"Hi Sara," Dani said happily, "Grissom," she said nodding towards the grey-haired man standing beside Sara. "This is my best friend, Adam. Adam, this is Gil Grissom and Sara Sidle from the crime lab, and Sara is my half sister."

Sara stared at Dani, she already knew?


	9. Case Closed

Chapter Nine

Dani looked at Adam after introducing Sara as her half sister, which put Sara at ease. She glanced at Grissom, who looked just as astonished as she was. He noticed that she was looking at him and turned slightly to her, his mouth was opened slightly, showing his surprise, an emotion he rarely let out of his barrier.

"Adam, you should go, get something to eat, or something, come back later, okay?" Dani asked. Adam looked at Grissom and Sara, and then back at Dani.

"Okay," he said and nodded. Dani smiled at him, and then Adam left the room.

Ignoring the rock in the middle of the room, Sara crossed her arms and smiled. "Boyfriend?" She asked.

Dani gave out a little laugh, "No, he's my best friend." Sara's smile faded as she remembered why she was in the hospital room. She stepped further into the tiny room and sat in the chair that Adam had been sitting in. Grissom stood beside her, for support, he hadn't planned on saying anything since Dani would probably be more comfortable around Sara.

Dani had already sensed Sara's mood, and knew what she wanted to talk about. It was Sara's expression when Dani had introduced her as her half sister to Adam that gave her away. Dani liked boasting her intelligence in subtle ways. She saw the solemn look in Sara's eyes when she was at the door and knew that Sara must have figured out that they had the same mother. So, Dani had decided to tell Sara she knew about it, catching her completely off-guard.

Dani was watching Sara, trying to figure her out. Somehow, she couldn't. There were too many emotions that Dani couldn't detect. Grissom was even harder to understand only through expression.

"Dani…" Sara started, "How did you already know I was your half sister?"

"Was?" Dani asked. "You still are."

"Dani," Sara said, slightly more force in her voice.

"Well, I've visited my mother in jail a few times, and she told me about her other daughter Sara, she told me I looked a lot like you, and told me your last name was Sidle, like mine was," Dani explained.

"Do… you know why," Sara paused, "she's in jail?"

Dani's eyes traveled to the wall past Sara. Solemn overtook them. "Yes," she said quietly. "My foster parents wouldn't tell me, they were too… scared of the impact it would have on me. They would only tell me she was in a bad place. When I was old enough, they told me that they were going to take me to visit my mother, then they took me to the jail."

Sara was avoiding Dani's eyes and staring at the ground. Grissom wanted to comfort Sara, but he couldn't, not while they were at work.

Dani looked at Grissom, who was watching Sara. Dani then looked at Sara briefly, then back at Grissom.

"Why are you still on the case?" Dani asked.

"What?" Sara asked, finally looking up.

"The guy… who kidnapped me is dead, and you're still here," Dani explained.

"I had to talk to you about our mother," Sara said, a slight bit of anger in her voice.

"If you only wanted to talk about our mother, you would have come on your own time," Dani's eyes traveled to Grissom, "and alone."

"You're smart," Sara said, even though she had realized it a while ago. Dani nodded slightly, she didn't need to be told she was. "The semen we collected… from you… was a match to Jason Kenyres."

"That was who kidnapped me," Dani confirmed, "He told me to call him Jason."

"Was anyone else involved with your kidnapping, Dani?" Sara asked in a light tone.

Dani shook her head, "No, it was only him. The whole time I never saw anyone else." Then Grissom's cell phone rang.

"Grissom," he answered and walked out of the room.

"Sara, what's going to happen to me?" Dani asked, tears in her eyes.

Sara stared at Dani. "What do you mean?"

"Another family, another change I guess," Dani said, her eyes away from Sara.

Sara smiled, "Dani, I'm not going to let you live with another foster family. Once I get your adoption papers, I'm signing them."

Dani's eyes brightened and a smile appeared on her face. "Really?" She asked like a kid about to get a triple chocolate ice cream cone.

Sara smiled, "You're family, and… I know what it's like being in foster care."

Dani sighed, "Why didn't you ever visit mom?"

Sara looked at Dani with quiet eyes. "I… was scared of her, I didn't want to see her. I moved to Vegas… and used that as an excuse and an answer when I asked myself why I never see her now."

Dani was looking at Sara, with an understanding expression on her face. "She's waiting for you."

Sara's eyes met Dani's and there was silence. They stared at each other, saying more than words ever could. Then Grissom walked into the room. He noticed that they weren't talking, and decided to speak.

"Sara, can I talk to you?"

Sara got up, not saying anything to Dani and followed Grissom out of the room.

"That was Catherine, they finished searching Jason Kenyres house, they found a chair with hand cuffs attached to it, that's where he kept her. There was no sign of anyone else living there or visiting there for a while," Grissom said, passing the information to Sara.

"So he did and he's dead?" Sara asked.

"They said they're going to close the case. There's nothing else we can do," Grissom said and sighed.

Sara smiled, "Well, I'm doing more."

Grissom raised an eyebrow, demanding answers.

"I'm adopting her," Sara said, unable to wipe the smile off her face.


	10. No Regrets

I tried researching adoption procedures and stuff like that, and I talked to my mom about adoption, foster care etc. I found that the procedure is very long and very hard, and you should just assume it all happened behind closed doors.

Chapter Ten

The next time Sara was in Grissom's car heading to the hospital, she wasn't crying, she was happy. She had been smiling since this morning, when she signed the adoption papers. Sara figured that sorting out that she was Dani's half sister would take longer than adoption, plus they both would have to explain why they didn't know each other, and why Sara hadn't been contacted before Dani had been put up for adoption.

Of course, that reason only Sara knew. Dani would probably ask at some point in time, and Sara would tell her. Only her. Well, maybe Grissom too, but she didn't want it out publicly. Sara had been contacted by the prison her mother was in many times, her mother had requested that she visit, but Sara didn't want to see her mother, so she changed her address but didn't change it on record. So, when they tried to contact her to see if she would take care of Dani, they contacted some senior family instead.

Then when Sara moved to Vegas, she changed her record, indicating that she moved, but this was 5 years later, and by that time, they had given up on trying to reach Sara.

Grissom had stopped the car and was looking at Sara, his eyes were somewhat saddened, but a slight bit of excitement was visible in them. This confused Sara.

"What is it?" She finally asked him. His eyes sighed, but his expression didn't change. Sara tilted her head a little, eyes demanding answers.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Grissom asked.

"Of course," Sara said. He hadn't disagreed with her at all when she brought it up. Even when they talked about it, he had told her over and over again that it was a great idea.

"No regrets?" Grissom asked.

"What do you mean?" Sara paused. "What are you really getting at?" She knew that Grissom always asked a question that would be answered inside of another question if he didn't want anyone to know the real question.

"This is a big decision, and you came on to it rather quickly, I know you've thought of it a lot, but have you thought it over completely?" Gil asked.

Sara sighed and smiled, "Yes, why are you asking me this now, we already got a bigger apartment."

"We needed a bigger apartment anyway, the point is, are you ready to take care of someone else?" Grissom asked. The climax of the conversation.

"I won't know until I try it," Sara said and ended the conversation by getting out of the car. Grissom followed, he didn't want to anger her but he had to make sure that Sara was ready for this, or at least somewhat ready. When Sara was younger, she didn't have a younger sibling to take care of, but Dani was 12, and would know how to do most things herself.

Sara walked into the hospital, told the front desk who she was there to see, and walked with Grissom to Dani's room. Sara stepped in first, to see Dani sitting on the hospital bed, with actual clothes on and not the hospital nightgown. Adam was sitting next to her; they were talking but then were interrupted as Sara came into the room.

Dani smiled, "Hi Sara," she said happily. Her mood had lightened ever since she learned that Sara was going to adopt her. If everything ran smoothly, that is.

"Hey," Sara said, who also had a smile on her face. Grissom walked in too, still standing behind Sara.

"Hi Gilbert," Dani said and laughed a little. She had been teasing him about it ever since she learned his first name.

"Hello Dani," Grissom greeted with a little smile. He looked over at Sara, telling her with his eyes to tell her the good news.

"They accepted me to be your guardian, I can adopt you," Sara said. Dani was suddenly over taken by excitement. Adam turned to her, also

smiling and she hugged him. "The doctors told me they were going to release you today, if I was approved," Sara said.

Dani nodded, she knew that she was being released today. Adam's smile faded and he looked at Dani. "Are you still going to the same school?" He asked.

Dani looked up at Sara, that was something she didn't know. Sara looked at her.

"One of my co-workers has a daughter that goes to Butterfield Academy, she tells me it's a good school, so I signed you up to go there in September," Sara said with saddened eyes. Adam's expression fell to disappointment.

Dani was looking on the better side of things, "Adam, we'll still hang out, we'll still live close to each other."

Adam looked at her, "I should go, call me when you're settled." He clearly was no longer excited.

"I'm worried about him," Dani admitted.

"How long have you two been friends?" Sara asked.

Dani shrugged, and thought about it for a moment, "Since grade five, so four years."

"Inseparable friends?" Sara asked.

"Yeah," Dani said with a light smile, "How'd you know?"

"I can tell," Sara said. "Ready to go?"

With that, Dani hopped down from the bed and followed her new family out of the hospital.


	11. Butterflied Again

This is the last chapter. Thanks for all the reviews. It's a series so I'll have the first chapter to the next story up soon. Again, thanks for the reviews. )

Chapter Eleven

Sara was holding Dani's hand as they walked up the stairs to Dani's knew home. Sara and Grissom had already moved in, and also had Dani's room set up. Since Sara and Grissom were two of the CSI's that had investigated the burglary of where Dani lived, before she was kidnapped, so they signed for her things, the little she had, and already put them in her new room.

Grissom put the key into the lock, and glanced behind him at Sara and Dani, catching a small smile from Sara. Sara looked down at the little girl's hand, which she was holding, she felt like she was treating Dani like she was younger than twelve, but it was just to comfort her.

"Ready?" Sara said softly to the girl. Dani looked up at Sara with a smile. Grissom opened the door and walked into the apartment. He slipped his shoes off onto the mat beside the door. Sara also slipped her shoes off, and Dani caught on and did the same.

The twelve year old looked around, the walls were a deep shade of purple, blending well with the dark brown shelves that matched each other that held books and various things throughout this room of the apartment. A plant or two was visible at a quick glance around the room sitting on dark brown shelves that matched the others. Butterflies were framed and hung up on the wall, which was one thing that caught Dani's eye at first glance. A small desk sat in the corner beside a bookshelf, that had tons of books on it. Dani turned around and there was a couch and two chairs in front of a TV, making it seem like a secluded part of the room.

"Want to see your room?" Sara asked. Dani turned around and nodded while smiling. Sara walked towards a mini hallway and Dani followed, she noticed a cluttered bathroom that looked to be about the size of a closet on her right. The bathroom had pearl coloured walls with a turquoise stripe going across the center of the wall. Sara stopped at a white door, and Dani looked up at her, wondering why she had stopped. "Go in," Sara said and looked at the door.

Dani turned the doorknob and opened the door to see a light blue and dark purple striped room. The curtains were the same shade of blue, but had big purple and pink butterflies on them. The bed matched the curtains, blue with pink and purple butterflies. The room was pretty small, there was only a bed, a shelf and a little desk, but it had more in it than Dani was expecting. The shelf was pink, matching the pink in the curtains, and had a CD player on top of it, the rest of the shelf was being used to hold various books that Sara thought Dani would like. The desk had a clock on it, but nothing else. Beside the shelf, was a closet.

Dani ran to Sara and hugged her. Sara smiled at the fact that Dani liked her room.

"How did you know I like butterflies?" Dani asked.

Sara smiled, "The first day we met, in the hospital, you had a butterfly beside your eye."

"Then the nurse washed it off," Dani said, her mind drifting to when the nurse took the SAE kit.

"Dani?" Sara said.

Dani snapped out of it and ran to Grissom, who was standing beside Sara, and hugged him. Usually, Grissom didn't like random hugs, but he hugged her back.

They were basically a family.


End file.
